LEARNING (ABOUT) RUBBISH: IT MAKES A LOT OF SENSE By Savio Figueiredo [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From Aldona-Net
Garbage is a problem that affects all of us. A meeting of the Panchayat members with the Comunidade Office bearers on February 11, 2008 resulted in Hector Fernandes offering to arrange a visit to Codli Mines of Sesa Goa to get a first hand view of their succesful vermiculture plant and other garbage related as as environment friendly activities. So a team of seven Aldonkars visited Codli Mines on Feb 16. They included Vallabh Polle Sarpanch, Maryann D'Souza deputy sarpanch and head of the Garbage Committee, Dr Marie De Souza GC member, Effie D'Souza ex-panch, Freddy D'Souza comunidade member, Hector D'Souza and Savio Figueiredo GC member. We were met by the Mines Manager Mr. Coelho who is incidentally from Moira, and then escorted by Mr Khedekar for a tour of the mines. After a tour of the mining activity, we visited the wet biodegradable garbage treatment facility. Here canteen waste, paper and leaves are subject to vermiculture. The entire facility is surrounded by a channel of water to prevent ingress of ants which are the biggest enemies of the earthworms. Please see the photos on this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/?saved=1 The process in brief: 1. Canteen kitchen waste, paper, leaves are shredded and laid out in the vermicomposter. (Cooked food is first washed of the masala.) 2. The spread is moistened at regular intervals. 3. The earthworms ingest the food and then excrete it, producing 12 kgs of compost every day. The entire area is totally smell free and a blindfolded person wiould not guess that he or she is at a garbage treatment plant. Other salient points of the visit is the attempt to segregate different types of waste at all levels such as the canteen, workshop and office areas. All scrap too is stored separately -- such as rubber, cast iron scrap, other metallic scrap etc. All washings form the truck wash and workshop area are treated to separate the oil from the water. The clean treated water is used for the gardening. On the way back we visited the Azad Maidan area to see first-hand the collection and segragation of scrap and made contact with Mr Lallu, who expressed interest in picking up scrap from Aldona. We have to identify a place to deposit all our non biodegradable garbage at one point (after collection on wardwise basis). Mr Lallu will then segregate the scrap and take it free of cost. Let's see how it works out. We are grateful to the Management of Sesa Goa and the staff of the Codli Mines for their hospitality and support (especially Mr Coelho & Mr Khedekar). Thanks to Hector too for making this trip possible. [FOOTNOTE: Aldona-Net is at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aldona-net] Savio Figueiredo is based in Aldona, Goa and takes an active interest in local community issues as well as cyberspace. He runs the Rendeep Cyber Cafe there. Contact him with your feedback.